It’s been a little over a year since we released the first trailer for “The Woods Belong To Us”. The reaction was mixed, but it was clear that there is an interest in the story that we are going to tell.

In 2010, the story evolved more than we ever anticipated and we felt that there was more to tell. It’s our duty to tell it – We will continue filming new footage and interviews for the film this year.

Thanks for your continued interest in our film. We appreciate the feedback and your patience.

Looking forward to it. It’s an extremely unique and interesting tale, especially for anyone who lives in the Pacific NorthWest, and who is exposed to this culture on a daily basis. For those who are not around it, I can only imagine that it is even more interesting.

The story keeps on evolving in even more stranger ways. for instance, a self-styled sports journalist and mountain biker, Peter Frick-Wright, has ranted against the likes of Mike Vandeman on a blog, and now in the November 2011 “Bike Magazine”.

But as this “sports” journalist picks away at Mike Vandeman with his very biased take of Mike’s “trial”, we find out that Peter F-W actually promoted illegal mountain biking activity in Oregon, last October!

More recent quotes from various letter writers and others that expose mountain bikers for what they really are:

Subject: Bill’s Trail
To: CEQANSC@parks.ca.gov
“It is outrageous that mountain bikers expect to have access to public lands, expect the public to pay for their sport, and then put the public at risk.”
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“I am really done with the whiney and spoiled and, frankly, erroneous fiction you guys (mountain bikers) tell yourselves. You do not help your cause.”
-Mayor of Boulder City, Colorado
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“But above all, we need strict laws that limit the public land areas they are permitted to bike in, and practice for their competitive racing in. These must be accompanied by strict enforcement with confiscation of bikes for offenders and escalating fines for repeat offenders.You cannot stop a Sherman tank with water pistols.”
-letter to the Marin Independent Journal
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“Remember, mountain bikers can only acquire as much power and clout as the land managers and politicians will give them.”- letter writer in North Vancouver, British Columbia

The days of ‘Wild West Trail building’ are (or will soon be) all but over in most parts of North America. The fact of the matter is that we have to look at it from the other parties point of view as well. In the Okanagan valley, we have experienced amazing cooperation from BC Parks, The Land Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy and Crown Corporation officers.

These government and NGOs are looking out for the best interests of the land as a whole and we have to ‘grow up’ and respect their position. Try and remember; its not “all about us and our time”, many generations of people will be on the land long after you are dust in the wind.

Our bike club has been working (very) successfully with all of the aforementioned groups, as well as several private land owners and environmental organizations for several years now; all based on a strategy of respect and understanding of the other group’s point of view.

Ya’ man, it really can work; I know because as the Prez’ of the local club for the past three years, I’ve had success after success just being cool with the land managers and working out trail building / trail-maintenance arrangements. Patience, understanding and respect – its the only deal that works long-term.

Once you have the permission, make sure that you build the trail right, and by that I mean by IMBA standards all the way. Then, when you have completed the project, you can show it to folks and they will recognize it as intelligently designed and built on a sustainable foundation. Don’t take short-cuts to completion – take your time, do it right.

People will check it out and think “hmm, those folks actually know what they’re doing” and the next time that you ask to put in a new trail, they will be a lot less hesitant to give you the green light. It gets easier and easier as time goes on and you complete more successful projects.

We now have it down to the point where all we do is walk / flag / stake and GPS the proposed trail, then send the GPS track via email to the land management team and off we go. No BS = trust.

BTW: ya’ might wanna’ nix’ the video shots of the dude working a chainsaw without ear / eye protection, and walking around, dragging logs with a running chainsaw in one hand – that’s not how its done by folks who value their life and limbs and wanna’ be around to build trails long into the future…

What a load of condescending BS, Andrew! We can’t dismiss the collective ignorance of a few government officials and NGOs who are being spoon fed that typical MTBer crap all the time.

None of this “legitimizing” of bike trails has stopped the “wild west trail building” in the least. And you know it to be the truth. None of the mountain bike trail building I have seen, legit or not, has been considered sustainable. And I have seen what happens when private or public landowners don’t agree with the MTBer point of view.

So basically this is an anti-mountain biker film. Not a true unbiased documentary as they would have you believe. Note how the trail builders are shown using chainsaws and being destructive when this is just not the case in most areas. Not to mention trails build for other user groups are just as destructive.

Andrew: I guess your so-called “successes” comes from being able to dazzle the government officials and NGOs with the usual MTBer BS. It’s like a con game for you guys, like selling the Brooklyn Bridge over and over again. MTBers don’t like to play fair, is the truth.

I love my life, and my work conserving our natural places. I’m not destroying it like you mountain bikers are doing. I’m not hurting myself. Mountain bikers must hate their life a lot, to do what they are doing to our natural places and to their bodies. “IMBA trail standards” is farcical, and you know it, Andrew.

I don’t need to feel alive by trying to wreck my body/bike doing monkey tricks like you mountain bikers are doing. I ride my bike with two wheels on the pavement in a normal, safe and considerate manner. So many mountain bikers are dying to feel alive. Emergency room visits, ambulance and hospital bills, broken bones, concussions, and worse. Permits or not, you’re addicted. Digging,riding and hurting; digging,riding and hurting. That must suck…

So I guess the Great Gazoo is in fact Mike Vandemann. I noticed Mike is no longer posting using his facebook account and he is too cowardly to post using his real name here. Must be tough being a convicted criminal.

Mountain biking is still a crime, too! That is why some mountain bikers have to sport bumper stickers on their cars and bikes that say:
“Mountain biking is not a crime”. Just by doing that, you have convicted yourselves.

Uhmm, Gazoo. Mountain biking is legal. If not those 2 park rangers I rode past today were not doing their jobs. I assume you mean mountain biking on trails that are closed is illegal or you support the logic of Vandemann that all mountain bikers are liars and all ride illegal trails. By that rationale then I suppose hiking is illegal as well as I have no doubt that all hikers have gone into off limits areas. The idiotic bigoted views of you and your ilk are the same kind of generalizations that racists use. I saw a bumper sticker once that said “being black is not a crime” If I used your train of though I would have just shot the guy.

Yeah, mountain biking can be called legalized vandalism of our natural places. If that is not a crime, I don’t know what else it could be called? I can’t speak for those public land authorities and politicians who “legalized” it, but I do know that if a lie goes around long enough, people start to believe it. (Or else, they are just trying to ward off the constant “swarming” that mountain bikers are known for when their original illegally built trails and structures are threatened.) Ain’t that the truth?

Too bad I still don’t believe the mountain bikers’ lies, Aaron. That does not make my views idiotic or bigoted. That truth is hard to accept, isn’t it? Mountain bikers will keep on intimidating, bullying and threatening those who do not believe their lies. That, alone, is idiotic and bigoted, Aaron.

You have got your facts wrong, as usual, Aaron. The star of the show is not a “convicted criminal” and does not have a criminal record. Check your facts before you spew out your MTBer brand of venom. You are clueless, man. Don’t believe everything you read or hear from other mountain bikers. Kind of puts a damper on a daft rumor, now, doesn’t it?